48 Main St
Dubuque, IA 52001, USA

Commercial & Industrial Buildings, Schroeder-Kleine Grocer Company Warehouse, 44-48 Main St Dubuque, Dubuque County, IA

Raised in Dubuque and educated at the local Bayless Business College, Frank Schroeder began his grocery career in town as an apprentice shipping and receiving clerk for wholesale grocery W.H. Rumpf. (Begun in 1853, Rumpf`s establishment was one of the oldest grocery houses in the city.) In 1882 Schroeder formed a partnership with Dubuque native John H. Kleine to start his own wholesale grocery firm. Ten years later the two merged with Rumpf and his partner, John P. Ferring, and incorporated the Schroeder-Kleine Grocer Company with capital stock of $100,000. That same year they built this substantial brick building to house their expanded stock. Business increased steadily, and by 1911 the firm employed 27 people, with sales representatives across Iowa and in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. Before the firm`s dissolution in 1941, it was one of the oldest in Dubuque, if Rumpf`s 1853 start is considered. This building is thus historically important for its association with Schoreder-Kleine during the firm`s prosperous years. Architecturally, it is representative of the 19th Century Functional structures built in Dubuque`s wholesale grocery and produce district along lower Main Street.